The presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi was last Friday detained for hours at Heathrow Airport in London by immigration officials.
Obi was detained and interrogated over alleged impersonation.
The LP candidate’s associate and Mass Communication scholar, Prof Chinyere Stella Okunna disclosed this in a Facebook post late Tuesday night.
Okunna, who worked as commissioner when Obi was Anambra governor, said that the former governor was informed by UK Immigration officials during interrogation that his “identity was duplicated”.
Okunna, who is currently Deputy Vice Chancellor of Paul University, Awka, said that Obi informed her of his UK ordeal in confidence but she had to share it with the public for the sake of posterity.
“Today 11/04/2023, I was shocked beyond words to hear from His Excellency Mr Peter what he went through when his British Airways plane landed at Heathrow Airport London in the early morning of Friday 07/04/2023,” she said.
Okunna continued, “He was talking to me at the Official Opening of the Specialist Hospital of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Sisters, Nkpor. He had arrived at the event after flying in from London, his presence heralded by the usual ‘ear-splitting’ ovation that accompanies him everywhere nowadays. As the “Most Outstanding Pillar of the Foundation/Hospital”, the Reverend Sisters were full of expectations that he would attend; so were we (Members of the Governing Board of the IHM Sisters Healthcare System), although there was also anxiety about whether he would be able to make it, being outside Nigeria.
“I actually had no idea he had travelled out of the country until the ovation over his presence in a London Church went viral on the Internet. I would never have imagined he would be able to go anywhere so soon after his energy-sapping marathon visits on 06/04 to Paul University, Regina Caeli Hospital and other health facilities where he went about touching lives in his usual quiet philanthropic manner.
“His whirlwind activities that day in Anambra State and beyond were another eloquent testimony to Peter Obi’s incredible stamina and multi-tasking capacity. To be able to fly out of the country that night, made this capacity even more incredible.
“Landing in London, Peter Obi joined the usual queue to pass through Immigration, and that was when his ordeal began: He was stopped and questioned for a long time and subsequently handed a detention note and told to wait for further interrogation and investigation. This was terribly unusual for a man who had lived honourably in the UK for a long time.
“In the face of this harassment, some well-meaning Nigerians, knowing who he is, raised their voices in protest, demanding to know why he was being treated that way.
“Then came the shocking revelation by the Immigration Officer who told him that his identity “WAS DUPLICATED”. This revelation has definitely set off alarm bells.
“For people who are knowledgeable about such matters, this is a very dangerous development because the implication is that someone is IMPERSONATING Peter Obi. And that someone could implicate Obi in all manner of dubious and even criminal activities, and rope him into any number of offences; he could get Obi framed for one criminal act or another. The frightening scenario of what can happen, is unimaginable!!!
“This is the height of it all for a man who has been under sundry intimidation and emotional torture: Bugging of his phone and those of his wife and children; keeping him constantly under surveillance; calling him names; putting him under severe pressure to leave (run away from) the country; wrongly accusing him of negative things he knows absolutely nothing about etc.
“As he was telling me his ‘Heathrow tale of woe’ today, I could see a man who was in severe pain and under unbearable stress, who many would expect to be at the point of despair. But, as he confirmed, he is ready to suffer this pain and is as determined as ever to pursue the path which he has chosen to enable him arrive at the destination which well-meaning people in Nigeria and far far beyond are expecting him to arrive at.
“This is the destination where Nigerians will be able to live in a secure and productive country which they (particularly the younger generations) will be proud to call their own.”
Okunna stated, “I suppose he told me all this confidentially. My very sincere apologies, Your Excellency, for ‘breaking’ this confidentiality, but History beckons and I CANNOT KEEP QUIET.”